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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 8 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Carole King . . . No, not that one!
From: Mick Patrick
2. Re: AMERICA AND THE BRITISH INVASION.... a more serious view...
From: Richard Tearle
3. "Gloomy" Sunday
From: Phil Milstein
4. Re: Carole King . . . No, not that one!
From: Phil Milstein
5. Re: Music and emotion
From: Richard Tearle
6. Re: AMERICA AND THE BRITISH INVASION.... a more serious view...
From: Steve Harvey
7. Thank the Bunster!
From: Steve Harvey
8. RE: West Coast Motown
From: Phil Chapman
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 23:39:56 -0000
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: Carole King . . . No, not that one!
There I was listening to a track from a brand new CD comp when my ears
pricked up. A haunting girly vocal, summery harmonies, backwards tapes -
psych/pop, you hipsters call it, I believe. A glance at the composer credits
revealed the name Carole King. I examined the CD booklet further and
discovered that the lead-singer was also Carole King. Surely some mistake, I
thought. I'm quite familiar with her 60s song catalogue and didn't recognize
the title "Moving In A Circle". I also like to think that I can recognize
her lovely voice. Well, I was wrong. The song was written and performed by
Carole King . . . but NOT that one!
Yes folks, the pop world down under had their very own CK, lead singer with
the Executives, Australia's answer to the Mamas & the Papas and the 5th
Dimension. And very nice she and her group were too. The CD in question is
"Peculiar Hole In The Sky" (CDWIKD 215), the fourth instalment of the Big
Beat label's ongoing series of antipodean pop compilations.
Click here to read more about it and see a full track list:
http://www.acerecords.co.uk/gotrt/sept02/cdwikd215.html Anyone who enjoyed
the "Ripples" series will find much of interest in this release.
MICK PATRICK
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 23:40:30 -0000
From: Richard Tearle
Subject: Re: AMERICA AND THE BRITISH INVASION.... a more serious view...
I wonder if I may add something here..speaking from the UK, I am
certain that the British Invasion did much for black artists on this
side of the pond. Tamla Motown was certainly bought to our attention
as much by the Beatles and the Stones and many many others as it was
by the Supremes. The British Blues Boom gave us names that we had
either never heard of or considered to be legends - Broonzy,
Lednelly, Sonny Boy etc etc. But that was over here.Perhaps what
Louise is saying is true in the States: frankly I wouldn't know. But
knowing that many bluesmen came over here and couldn't understand why
they had adulation here and nothing in their own country rings true.
Also, one of my favourite artists, Bonnie Raitt, has often championed
the cause of (mainly) blues artists who have been denied royalties;
again, this lends a little credence (no pun intended) to what Louise
has said. Louise: I am not doubting a word you say, but, like, Neil, I
really would like some more information and examples if you can supply
them.
Cheers
Richard
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 18:41:13 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: "Gloomy" Sunday
Sort of in honor of Halloween, now up on musica is the most
misguided interpretation of the legendary "suicide song"
Gloomy Sunday you're ever likely to hear. Miss Toni Fisher,
of The Big Hurt fame, turns in a shimmering performance of
the song, best known (outside its native Hungary, at least)
from Billie Holiday's more appropriate wrist-slitting rendition.
When you hear Toni's take, you'll know pretty quickly in just
what way it is "wrong."
I'm afraid I can't provide discographical details, other than
that it from her Signet LP.
Enjoy, ghouls.
--Phil Milstein
P.S. For more on the Miss Toni Fisher LP, see Paul Urbahns'
informative report in S'pop archive V#0234:
http://www.spectropop.com/archive/digest/m265.html
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 18:47:35 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Carole King . . . No, not that one!
Mick Patrick wrote:
> Yes folks, the pop world down under had their very own CK,
> lead singer with the Executives, Australia's answer to the
> Mamas & the Papas and the 5th ...
The Land Down Under appears in some ways to have been an alternate
pop universe, at the same time both attached to and detached from
the wider Western pop world. In the late '60s they too had a
Velvet Underground, a band which has since claimed (and no one's
disputing it) that they were unaware of the existence of the U.S.
band of the same name.
How they came up with their's, however, I don't know.
--Phil M.
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 23:53:57 -0000
From: Richard Tearle
Subject: Re: Music and emotion
Peter Lerner wrote:
> So what I would like to explore is what music does to our emotions,
> and how it achieves this effect.
Peter, At the risk of hogging the message board tonight, I'd like to
give you my opinions on this. There are so many factors, some stand
alone, some combine to elicit an emotion. Musically, the first thing
that hits you is whether the key is major or minor - and you don't
have to be a musician to know which is which. Most national anthems I
know are all in major keys and are designed (or written) to stir a
patriotic pride, even without the lyrics. Most sad songs are written
in minor keys. Having said that, the most moving song I know is Danny
Boy - which is in a major key! Blakes Jerusalem makes me go cold
because of the swell in the introduction. Mars from the Planets
brings to mind a marching army - so imagination has much to do with
as well. Lyrics are more important in sad songs (I think) as there
are so many songs where you can actually echo Killing me Softly - the
singer is singing your life...so there again, your own personal
memories play a part. If you add all these things together, your
emotiuons afre directed by one thing or another to a particular part
of you that maybe even you have forgotten. Where did you first here a
song and under what circumstances? (see my earlier post about
Everybody knows!!) Anyway, I have enough to say for myself tonight -
hope that's the sort of answer you were looking for...
Cheers
Richard
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 16:04:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: AMERICA AND THE BRITISH INVASION.... a more serious view...
Regarding the idea that the British Invasion was some
conspiracy to keep black music off the air: The first
record label to release a Beatles album wasn't Capitol
Records, but Veejay, a black-owned label out of Chicago.
A lot of the R&B based Brit rockers renewed interest
in their black mentors, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters,
John Lee Hooker, etc. The Stones made sure they booked
Howlin' Wolf on Shindig when they went on. Eric Burdon
certainly paid tribute to his black idols as well.
Motown got a boost as well when groups like the Beatles
started covering their tunes.
It was also during this era that a lot of blues artists
found their main income coming from white audiences as
well. As Muddy Waters once said, "The only black faces
I see at my gigs are mine and the band's".
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Message: 7
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 16:18:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Thank the Bunster!
Mike,
Glad you liked the DC5 stories. Bun E. Carlos told me
those years back. When the Trick signed with Epic, Bun
met up with one of the employees who had worked with
the 5 in the 60s. Being a big fan of the band, Bun got
this guy to set up a meeting with Dave himself. During
the meeting Bun asked Dave why none of the DC5 stuff
had come out on CD (this was back in the 80s) since
the DC5 had a big hit in France with their greatest
hits not long before that (25 Thumping Hits, I think).
Dave said he was just too busy to mix the stuff for
CDs at the time (his musical, Time, was raking in the
bucks at the time). A few years later Hollywood
Records did release that double CD best of. Imagine
being too busy making money to put out your old
records!
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 00:53:51 -0000
From: Phil Chapman
Subject: RE: West Coast Motown
Stu Phillips:
> Been reading a lot of posts about Motown Records. Here's a
> little incident that happened when Motown decided to record
> on the West Coast in the early '70s.......
> ......Gordy thought that he was pushing the envelope to the
> utmost, when in reality the level was reading right on zero.
Neat story Stu - took me back to an incident in the 70s when I
was working with the late Tommy Boyce. He'd not been in the UK
very long, and in the early days thought I was bit too 'reserved'.
By the late 70s we'd enjoyed some hits with a 50s/60s-influenced
band called "Darts". We were now on the second album, cutting a
version of "The Boy From New York City", and Tommy was getting a
bit bored with "the same old sound..." (not his exact words).
I'd already developed a reasonably 'loud' sound, but this was
no longer enough for Tommy, who kept pushing for extremes. As the
session wore on, I thought I'd "teach him a lesson.." and, while
he was in the studio running through some arrangement changes, I
stepped up the gain on all the mic channels by 10db, and also
turned the monitoring to full tilt for good measure. When he came
in for a playback, and after he had scraped himself off the wall,
he eventually exclaimed "Phil, that's fabulous!" - my little trick
had backfired, and from then on, meter readings were irrelevant;
everything had to be recorded that way.
Phil
technical note: The board (an in-house Helios, as used by the Stones,
Jimi Hendrix etc) had merely squared-off the signal, simulating a
variant of tape saturation.
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